The Department of the Navy plans to use one of the three projects in its Innovation Cell to create data analytics for talent management. The goal of the cell is to rapidly acquire commercial IT by involving industry early in the requirements process.

The Defense Department's inspector general has reversed its findings on the Marine Corps' 2012 schedule of budgetary activity, saying the clean opinion it first issued is no longer to be relied upon. The 2012 SBA had been the first successful financial audit for any of the military departments.

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said the acquisition proposals he will release on Wednesday are merely a discussion draft and he's actively seeking more input. Initial language would boost program managers' roles in the system and shave reporting requirements.

Navy officials plan an industry day to formally launch a new framework for IT procurement, designed to work within the existing acquisition system to much more rapidly insert commercial technologies into Navy networks.

Pentagon officials are adamant that sequestration-level spending is
incompatible with the current Defense strategy. But, they also have serious concerns
with the plan House Republicans released this week to boost Defense funding, saying
it would limit their options and keep the military in a state of budget uncertainty.

Richard Ginman, the director of Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy, left government late last month. In an interview with Federal News Radio's On DoD a few days before his retirement, he reflected on what's changed during his 42-year career, and what hasn't.

In this week's Inside the DoD Reporter's Notebook, could a new report finally explain which Pentagon policies tend to lead to cost and schedule growth, and which ones keep programs on track? Plus, why it seems unlikely that Congress will go along with DoD's latest request to close stateside military bases.

The Veterans Affairs Department says it is spending $24 million per year to maintain facility space it can't use. Some of the restrictions on closing them are political, some are local, so VA thinks it needs a BRAC of its own.

Ashton Carter, the new Defense secretary, told lawmakers this week that most of DoD's civilian workforce is performing mission-critical functions. But large budgets over the past decade have let the department do a lot of hiring without much thought toward cutting outdated positions, he said.

Nearly a quarter of the military's facilities are rated as in "poor" condition; another 7 percent are failing. Officials say their 2016 budget would begin to dig out of billions of dollars in backlogged maintenance needs.

The budget the Defense Department is pushing for in 2016 will help the agency start to dig out of a big backlog of deferred maintenance on military bases. But Pentagon officials say even their own plan isn't a complete solution to deteriorating facilities, and if sequestration returns next year, things will likely get much worse. Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu has the details.

This year's attempt to overhaul the the Freedom of Information Act would give the Office of Government Information Services the independence to report directly to Congress on FOIA issues. Without that, OGIS is 'neither an independent watchdog or overseer,' according to its just-retired director.